Jury Hears Of Dangers From Arson

State Hopes Details Land Longer Sentence

May 15, 1996|By Bob Merrifield, Tribune Staff Writer.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — In the early morning hours of Dec. 4, 1987, flaming embers borne on the updraft from a raging arson fire swept over the rooftops of century-old buildings in Joliet, putting most of city's downtown area in danger, a jury was told Tuesday.

The glowing debris was swept by a 15-mile-an-hour wind across flat, tar-covered roofs in a several-block area surrounding the blazing building, a firefighter testified on the second day in the arson trial of former Will County Coroner Robert Tezak.

Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Charles Drick, one of the first firefighters on the scene, said the roof of the three-story building collapsed into the flames just as he was preparing to step onto it from a ladder.

"I heard glass break (and) almost immediately the roof bowed and in a matter of a few seconds collapsed," Drick said.

He would have been standing on the roof when it fell if the steep angle of the ladder against the building had not slowed his climb to the top, Drick said.

"Survival was not very likely," Drick said of his chances if he had tumbled into the building.

The firefighter's account of the dangers of fighting an arson fire that rages through a building in minutes is part of Will County State's Atty. James Glasgow's effort to win more jail time for the already imprisoned Tezak.

Already serving a 12 1/2-year prison term for ordering the torching of his Crest Hill bowling alley, Tezak is on trial in Bloomington on state charges that he arranged a fire intended to destroy records sought by a federal grand jury.

If convicted, he could get up to seven more years in prison.

Glasgow is emphasizing the danger the fire posed to the community in an apparent attempt to convince Will County Associate Judge Edwin Grabiec that Tezak deserves more time in prison.

If convicted, Tezak would be sentenced by Grabiec at a hearing in Joliet.

The trial was moved to McLean County to find a jury that was not aware of Tezak's previous arson conviction.

Jim Hollenbeck, a former investigator for the state fire marshal's office, told the jury the fire started "in a minimum of two" spots. He believes the fire was spread with fuel oil and was started on all three floors.

The blaze burned fast and hot, consuming even the ends of structural timbers enclosed in masonry sockets, Hollenbeck said.

At one point, the oxygen-starved flames were on the verge of erupting in a backdraft, he said, describing the violent explosion caused when air reaches pent-up gases inside a building.

"The building was very, very close to that when the windows broke," Hollenbeck said.

Tezak has admitted in federal court to ordering the fire, which destroyed the offices of the Will County Private Industry Council, a government agency under investigation for steering contracts to political insiders.

He said the fire was intended to frustrate the probe.

The admissions were made in the course of a guilty plea to ordering the bowling alley fire.

Although Tezak's words will be heard by the jurors, they will not be told the confession was part of a guilty plea or that he is an already convicted arsonist.

Brian Sustee, the controller for PIC, testified Tuesday that he gathered together the records sought in a subpoena and notified an Internal Revenue Service agent on Dec. 3 that they were ready.

Because they filled 20 cartons, federal authorities were arranging for a truck to pick them up the following Monday, Sustee said.

On Dec. 4 the building burned, destroying most of the files, which Sustee said covered grants and contracts awarded by the job training and energy conservation agency.

Sustee conceded under cross-examination by defense attorney Douglas Roller that the fire could not have hidden much.

He said most of the transactions could be traced through other sources but said the process would have been "extremely laborious."